Megan’s Comments (group member since Dec 30, 2017)

Megan’s comments from the EVERYONE Has Read This but Me - The Catch-Up Book Club group.

I second Gone With The Wind

I second Sing, Unburied, Sing

The Light Between the Oceans was adapted into a movie, but it’s been out a while, so perhaps isn’t an issue (this isn’t a vote for it, either)

I second A Man Called Ove

Hidden Figures

Howl's Moving Castle is one of my favorite movie adaptations of a book, and Cirque du Freaque is really good too. I liked Chocolat when it came out, and The Princess Diaries.

There's some new adaptations Little Women, Howard's End recently out, don't know if they are any good. Jane Austen books get adapted frequently, my favorites are Sense and Sensibility with Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet, from the 90's, Emma with Gwyneth Paltrow from the 90's and the A and E Pride and Prejudice miniseries with Colin Firth.

Megan wrote: "I'm totally on board for a catch up month! I finally got Astrophysics for People in a Hurry (long hold) and looking forward to reading A Hundred Years of Solitude with the official-unofficial group 😉" I just finished Astrophysics, it was fun. I really enjoyed the chapters on Dark Matter and Dark Energy. I'm still working on A Hundred Years. I have a love-hate relationship with it.

I loved The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. It's like a memoir, a medical mystery and a journalistic investigation all rolled into one. Lots of interesting, heartbreaking, appalling and hopeful stuff about African American history and experience, especially related to the medical industry, and a lot of neat stuff about genetics. I highly recommend the audio book.

I'm totally on board for a catch up month! I finally got Astrophysics for People in a Hurry (long hold) and looking forward to reading A Hundred Years of Solitude with the official-unofficial group 😉

Looking forward to starting this once I finish The Namesake

My parents read this to my sister and me at bedtime in elementary school; we loved it. I read the whole series again when I was a teen and still loved it, and listened to the audiobook last year and still loved it. I sort of feel like I'm in the minority, but for me, it stood the test of time. The large number of intelligent female characters and all the cool physics is a big draw. I felt like it was more spiritual than religious, though I understand how it might seem overly religious to some. I empathized a lot with Meg, and I've known preternaturally brilliant kids like Charles Wallace, so I didn't have a problem with him. Ms. Beast is one of my favorite sci-fi characters ever, I love how she was so tactile and opened Meg up to the wonders of senses other than sight. Calvin is one of my favorite supporting characters, and he has more to do in later books. I like how Meg has to learn to deal constructively with her anger, how Charles Wallace has to learn humility, and the evil monster brain was pretty chilling. I thought L'Engle brought up some important stuff about the dangers of conformity. Kids on a fantastic journey to rescue their dad appealed to me as a kid, and I still enjoy it now. I'm sorry I missed the movie when it was out.

I also second Crazy Rich Asians and Eleanor Oliphant

I read Diary of a Young Girl in school, it must’ve been an early definitive edition because I remember her talking about sexuality. I remember being impressed with her normal teenage girlness and of how she grew as a writer. The strange normality of their lives in the annex made the realities of war even more horrible. Inspired by your discussion, I just started listening to the audio book.

I second Cold Mountain

I second The Bell Jar

M is for Magic is one of my favorite Neil Gaiman anthologies; technically, it's geared for teenagers, so it has a number of great stories from his earlier, more adult anthologies, Smoke and Mirrors and Fragile Things, without the super disturbing, more adult-themed ones. My True Love Gave to Me is a fun Holiday themed anthology, with an eclectic mix of stories, from urban fantasy to coming of age stories. You got a lot of other great recommendations!

Sometime in the mid-eighties, I read a book about a teenage boy who goes with his family to live on a colony on the moon and encounters a mind-controlling extra-terrestrial creature that looks like a large, viney flower. It had a sort of golden age sci-fi feel. Have googled and asked in that find a book forum with no luck. Any ideas?

I second A Tale of Two Cities and A Man Called Ove

I second Norwegian Wood , 19Q4 and Battle Royal